Who We Are
by Hikaru Irving
Summary: Oneshot, Flight of the Phoenix based. After being in a group that constantly watched and judged him, Luke finally had befriended someone who would take him for who he was, no strings attached. Ginji only hoped their conversations wouldn't make him crash.


A/N: I've hit a wall with the twenty-second chapter of Flight of the Phoenix. So you get a oneshot based on it! Of course this is meant to explore the bond of friendship forming between our two favorite Tales swordsmen.

--

Ginji had panicked somewhat when Luke had collapsed due to a bad headache, but he had to concentrate on flying the Albiore III to Keterburg. It was so hard to not do anything to help Luke, but if he left the cockpit, the plane would crash. And that was the last thing they all needed. But Ginji hadn't needed to worry about Luke--Lloyd had been there to help him, and the headache went away after a time.

Luke and Lloyd were sitting back in their respective seats for the rest of the ride, and were talking animatedly. Ginji hadn't been around Luke and his other friends for long, but when they had rescued him from the ruins of the first Albiore, he had seen snippets of their interactions. Luke had always seemed somewhat subdued with Jade and the others.

But now, talking with Lloyd, it was as if he had been set free from a terrible curse. He felt free to speak his mind, without being belittled, without being ridiculed, without being reprimanded. This was someone who could take Luke for who he was now, not for who he had been. Ginji knew he should concentrate on flying, but the lively conversation in the passenger area in the back was hard to ignore, especially with Luke being the most vivacious he'd ever been.

"So," Luke said, drumming his fingers rhythmically on his armrest, "I kept forgetting to ask you. What the hell are Dwarven Vows, anyway?"

Lloyd grinned sheepishly. "Ah. Well, they're sayings my dad had me memorize and live by. There are almost four hundred of them, but they're not hard to remember once you get the hang of it."

Luke blanched, his eyes going wide. "Four hundred? How did you learn all of those? You couldn't remember anything I tried to tell you if it wasn't something you could learn hands-on."

Lloyd folded his arms, brow knit, mouth slightly bent in a pout. "Well, I have been hearing them all my life, and my dad ... after he would teach me a new vow, i would have to recite it before dinner. And if I couldn't repeat it ..." his shoulders slumped at the memory. "I didn't get to eat."

"What? Really? No way!" Luke cried incredulously. It was true, he never had to want for food in his life, never mind as a punishment! The closest would have to be when Anise threatened not to feed him dinner after a wayward comment on Luke's part. That had been hellish enough. "But you did this often?"

Lloyd nodded his confirmation. "Almost every night." Luke let out a low whistle.

"That just sounds like a pain."

Lloyd shrugged. "I thought it was, too, but the vows really are good guidelines to live by."

Luke let out a vague "hmm," thinking. "Say," he said, "can you tell me more of them?"

"Ugh," Lloyd covered his face with a hand, "Do I have to? It's kinda embarrassing just saying them out of nowhere."

Luke quirked a brow. "Isn't that you did before? Say them out of nowhere?"

Lloyd flushed, he banged a fist on his armrest in protest. "Nu-uh! They have to fit the moment! You know?"

Luke waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever. Please?"

Finally Lloyd gave in, albeit a bit reluctantly. "Okay, fine. Uhm ... Dwarven Vow # 1: Let's all work together for a peaceful world. Dwarven Vow # 2: Don't depend on others. Walk on your own two legs. Dwarven Vow # 3: There's no use swearing oaths you don't intend to keep. Dwarven Vow # 4: Never abandon someone in need ..."

Luke listened raptly at each vow Lloyd recited. Soon he stopped going in any particular order, just reciting what vows he thought Luke would like. Luke proclaimed a liking to some of the vows, particularly Dwarven Vow # 9: Fall down seven times, stand up eight. Others Luke thought would be a good way to start living his own life by in his quest for change.

"But there's one Dwarven Vow that gets on my nerves." Lloyd said, surprising Luke. Luke would have thought that someone raised on these vows as guides to live by would like them. But Lloyd went on, "Dwarven Vow # 7 is the cheesiest one on the face of the planet. Goodness and love will always win!" He made a face as if he had eaten something particularly sour.

"Goodness and love ..." Luke whispered. In this crazy race against time to stop the planet's destruction, the lines of "good" and "evil" blur to the point where it was almost indiscernible, and he had even doubted on which side of that marred line he should stand.

"My friends would recite it all the time just to bug me," Lloyd went on, oblivious to Luke's venture into the philosophical. "Especially after we won a really tough battle with monsters."

Luke's ears perked. "Your friends?" At this Lloyd nodded. Lloyd would allude to his friends all the time, and Luke would have absolutely no idea who they were or what they were like. Same going for Luke, too--occasionally he would talk about Tear, Guy, and the others, but the only one Lloyd knew was Ion.

"What are your friends like?" Luke asked. "You've talked about them before, but ..."

Lloyd shifted in his seat, eyes sweeping the cabin of the Albiore. After an uncomfortable pause, he began to speak. "... Me and my dad, we lived in the middle of the woods by ourselves, but there was a village nearby. It's ... gone now, but I'd go there to go to school." He made a face. "Even though I hate studying. It was tough traveling through the woods and fighting monsters to get to the village. I hated it mostly because I was by myself, and I didn't understand what the teacher was trying to teach me."

Luke could relate to some extent. In the manor he was always by himself, except for Guy and Master Van, when he would come on training days. There were the maids, but they usually hustled in a whirlwind of their work. And Luke hated studying--his tutors were so pretentious and acted all high and mighty! Plus Luke never really understood what they were trying to teach him, things that were actually common knowledge.

"That's when I met Genis." Lloyd gave a wide smile as he recalled. "I was having trouble on the homework, and he helped me out. It was hard to get along at first, though, because he's the best in the class and I'm rock bottom."

"Best in the class?" Luke said.

Lloyd nodded. "And he's only twelve."

"What? No way!" Luke cried, jaw dropped. But Lloyd nodded a yes.

"Yeah. But we became good friends. We met Colette in school; she'd always be by herself during lunchtime so we thought we'd keep her company. She's a really sweet girl but she has this bad habit of apologizing all the time ..." Lloyd caught the odd look Luke was giving him. "What? What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," Luke replied, but that glint in his eye never faded. "It's just that ... it sounds like ... you like her, don't you?"

"Not like that!" Lloyd said, flustered, his face getting beet red. Luke smirked--that was all the proof he needed. Now he understood why Anise liked teasing people so much. It was so much fun! "What about you?" Lloyd countered. "Don't you like this Tear girl you keep talking about?"

Luke quirked a brow. "I never really talked--"

"You talk in your sleep."

Now it was Luke's turn to get all flustered. "N-no way! What'd I say? Was it something bad?"

Lloyd smirked shrewdly, nonchalantly folding his hands. "Only that she's the most amazing person on the planet."

"No way!" Luke protested. "Did I really say that?"

Lloyd shrugged. "That was the gist of it, anyway."

Luke glowered, folding his arms and pouting. "Right. So who was the healer you mentioned in Zaleho?"

"Hey, you haven't spilled your guts yet about your friends." Lloyd said. "But I can tell you about Professor Sage. She's Genis's older sister, around early to mid-twenties. She never says a thing about her age. Anyway she became the village teacher--Raine and Genis are alike in that they love studying and are practically super geniuses. She can get scary sometimes, but she's a good healer and never let us down."

Lloyd shifted in his seat again to get more comfortable. He turned to Luke. "Now it's your turn. Start with Tear."

Luke could feel the sweat rolling down his face. "D-Do I have to?" At Lloyd's nod he scowled. "Fine. Tear ... she's a Seventh Fonist of the Order of Lorelei, and she's also a member of the Oracle Knights. She can be really cold, but she's a nice person when you get past all the ice."

"Sounds like you at least admire her." Lloyd said, again grinning with the thoughts of "Luke's got a girlfriend!" dancing in his head.

Oblivious to the jab, Luke nodded. "Yeah. I do. She's really amazing."

"What about the others?"

Luke thought. Who would he talk about next? He decided on Guy. "There's Guy. He's a swordsman, too, but his style is different. He was my guardian and servant as long as I can remember in the manor. He practically raised me since my father was almost never around and my mother's sickly. But ..." He caught Lloyd's attention, who was looking solemn as he thought appropriate. "He doesn't like women. It's actually a phobia ..."

"What, no way!" Lloyd said through the silly smile on his face.

Luke nodded, smiling despite the fact he knew the cause of Guy's phobia. "Yep. He would freak out if a woman touched or came near him. Funny though, since he's so good at getting girls to like him."

"I know someone who is the complete opposite!" Lloyd said energetically, practically bouncing off his chair. "Zelos is a bona fide ladies man and skirt chaser. He's always flirting with girls and hitting on them even if he gets slapped or something. He calls them badges of honor for attempting to conquer 'that which has been untouched by man'."

"Ehhh!" Luke said, a slight chill running down his spine. "The innuendo is in even my grasp. Ugh. It's scary to think what Tear would do ... I can only imagine what Anise would do ..." He shuddered just at the very idea. An angry Anise wasn't a fun Anise.

"Anise? Ion mentioned her." Lloyd said. "What's she like?"

"Well ..." Luke cupped his chin, thinking. "She may look cute and act sweet on the outside but on the inside ... scary and pure evil."

"Evil?" Lloyd repeated, eyes wide. "You can't seriously mean that?"

Luke nodded. "She's a gold digger. She keeps confessing her love for me and writing me love letters and everything ... and all she wants is the Fabre fortune! And when she gets mad ... ohhh man I don't want to think about it."

"Wow ..." Lloyd said, letting out a low whistle. "Sheena can get pretty scary when she's mad, too. She's on the receiving end of Zelos's flirting a lot. He's on the receiving end of those so-called 'badges of honor.' "

There was a brief moment when nothing but laughter filled the cabin of the Albiore.


End file.
